and -- muskee and stafford and chafee, giants in this body who stepped forward and civil rights, stepped forward on environmental issues, stepped forward on the pressing issues of the time. and so the senate once again in that time period passed laws. i remember i was a kid here in washington, my father was secretary of the interior, the wilderness law, clean water act, clean air act, we set up the environmental protection agency. i mean, these were big laws, big, bold laws that were dealing with our problem. so once again, glory days of the senate. and i -- i -- i think we have that potential as i see the new senators coming in, the folks that were elected with us, the senators that have arrived in the last five or ten years. i think we have the ability to respond in a big, bold way to the crises that face us. and i know senator merkley, you came here a young man with senator hatfield i believe and you saw a different senate. maybe you could talk about that and we don't want to stay, i know we're going to a caucus and we have our generous chair here, so we don't want to keep her up there too lo